...Hisashi Takeda faltered in his second straight outing, this time giving up 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th that allowed the Marines to tie the game at 3. And it wasn't a pretty inning:

After striking out Hisao Heiuchi, he gave up a single to Tsuyoshi Nishioka and wild pitched him to second. Speedster Takashi Ogino got on base with a bunt single and put runners on first and third. Takeda then hit Tadahito Iguchi to load the bases. That set the stage for Tae-Kyun Kim's 2-run single into center.

...Perhaps the turning point during Friday's game against the Chiba Lotte Marines: with Yuji Iiyama on second with 1 out and Atsunori Inaba up to bat, Yoshihisa Naruse threw a 2-1 wild pitch. Iiyama took off when he saw the ball get by Tomoya Satozaki and ran for third. The third base coach was still waving him to keep going when he got to third, but he temporarily paused. If not for that momentary pause, he may have been able to slide into home safely.

...While the play involving Iiyama may have changed the course of the game on offense, it may not have done much for Tomoya Yagi.